Workplace culture is killing jobs, says Howes

Union leader Paul Howes has slammed Australia’s industrial relations system as a “blood sport" dragging down competitiveness and productivity and creating unsustainable wage blowouts in industries such as offshore oil and gas.

Calling for an accord-style grand compact between business, unions and government to end the industrial relations “see-saw" that accompanies every change of government, the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union said the labour movement and business needed to abandon “shallow" short-term interests.

In comments that stirred a hornet’s nest, Mr Howes said the Fair Work Act, introduced by the last Labor government in consultation with business and unions to replace WorkChoices, was flawed because business only agreed to it “though gritted teeth".

“Business had simply accepted the reality that WorkChoices was political poison and they had to bide their time before jumping back on the see-saw," he told the National Press Club.

AWU national secretary Paul Howes says it’s in everybody’s best interests to end what he described as a “vicious cycle of industrial relations warfare” that has gripped the nation since 1996.
Photo:Glenn Hunt

“We naively believed that everyone being a little bit unhappy with the ­outcome delivered the compromise we had sought. It turns out we were wrong."

The provocative speech comes amidst a push against penalty rates by the Abbott government, which blamed wages and conditions for the plight of struggling fruit processor SPC Ardmona, a unit of Coca-Cola Amatil.

Mr Howes won no support from his own side and received lukewarm support from business. Business Council of Australia president Tony Shepherd, who similarly called for an accord-style compact in November 2012, said there could only be a meaningful conversation if everything was on the table.

Mr Howes suggested business compromise by agreeing penalty rates and the minimum wage were off limits while unions “could begin by conceding that there has been a pattern of unsustainable growth in wages in some isolated parts of the economy".

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He lashed out at corruption in unions, saying it was the job of union leaders not to turn a blind eye and develop “a culture which is repulsive to corruption".

Mr Howes said Australia was being dragged down by the constant change in industrial relations laws, rather than one particular draft.

He said the mining boom had masked the collapse in manufacturing and the closure of factories. Now the boom is over “there’s nowhere to hide".

Australian Industry Group chief executive
Innes Willox
spurned Mr Howes’s suggestion, saying while talking was always good, “we’ve moved on from the ‘Industrial Relations Club’ and there’s no real need for any formal compact in a 21st century economy".

“As Mr Howes knows, business has long argued that the Fair Work Act is unbalanced and out-of-touch with modern workplaces," he said.

He said ACCI “would welcome similar leadership from others in the union movement".

Veteran unions leader
Joe de Bruyn
labelled Mr Howes naive and absurd for believing business would agree to anything that hurt its interests.

“It’s naive to the extreme to think that you can do a deal with them," he said.

Mr de Bruyn agreed that business only pretended to be happy with the Fair Work Act and started attacking it as unbalanced “once they smelt that the Coalition government was not too far away."

Mr Howes said this type of “hyper-adversarial culture" was the reason behind the perpetual instability that marred industrial relations in Australia. There was a complete absence of social capital, or trust and good faith in the system.

“Business senses an opportunity every time the Coalition takes office to shift all the rules in its favour. Unions do the same when Labor gets in.

“And ultimately, no one gets ­anywhere."

On the same day Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and industrial relations shadow minister Brendan O’Connor were likening Mr Abbott’s penalty rates submission to the Fair Work Commission to the reintroduction of WorkChoices, Mr Howes lampooned the debate. He said every time business or the Coalition overreaches, this is “our cue to counter-punch".

“To stand on podiums like this and say ‘WorkChoices, WorkChoices, WorkChoices’."

Mr Shorten declined to comment. Mr O’Connor said through a spokesman that Mr Howes was entitled to his views but it was the Abbott government that was “waging a war on penalty rates".

Mr Abbott welcomed the contribution: “[Mr Howes] was basically encouraging his colleagues to let the past be the past. I guess that’s not a bad message for everyone, not just for Labor ­frontbenchers, to let the past be the past,’’ he said.

ACTU secretary
Dave Oliver
was underwhelmed by Mr Howes’s speech.

“Unions have always sought to engage constructively with employers and government to achieve outcomes that promote a strong, productive and growing economy and we will continue to do this," he said.

“Sadly all we’ve seen from Mr Abbott and some sectors of the business ­community is an attack on the wages and conditions of hardworking ­Australians."

Greens deputy leader
Adam Bandt
called on Mr Howes to resign and join the Liberal Party.

“On the same day the government is in the Fair Work Commission attacking people’s wages, Paul Howes is out there spinning Tony Abbott’s argument," he said.

“Why is one of the most prominent union leaders in the country giving ammunition to Tony Abbott’s attack on Australian wages? It is a disgrace."

“Paul Howes seems more interested in pursuing his long-term goal of becoming Prime Minister than representing ordinary Australian workers."